In Lockstep with Suppliers, McDonald’s Uses Global Resources to Help Local Communities

During these challenging times, McDonald’s is working to support the thousands of communities around the world that we call home. Hand in hand with our supplier partners, we’re mobilizing global resources at the local level in response to COVID-19 – donating food, sourcing supplies and funding emergency efforts.

We’re so grateful for all the ways our McFamily is working together to help communities in times of need and proud to share some of the inspiring stories we’ve heard:

Providing Food and Meals
In March, as the pandemic continued to spread, McDonald’s UK and Ireland temporarily closed all of its 1,350 restaurants and pledged to donate all remaining food to those who need it most. The company teamed up with Food Drop, to create 230 community hubs in closed restaurants, distributing food parcels to over 150 charities.

Nationally it is also working with FareShare to provide surplus products on an ongoing basis to the organization’s food banks and distribution centers which provide food and supplies for vulnerable families.  Surplus food distributor, Company Shop has also partnered with the company to redistribute fresh produce and thousands of liters of milk to frontline health and social care workers.

UK and Irish franchisees also stepped in to provide food, drinks, gloves, aprons and cleaning products to local charities and care homes in the communities in which they operate.

In North America, our suppliers recognized a way to support a local Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC) Chapter, who’ve had to temporarily suspend volunteer meal programs in order to continue to protect the health of children and family staying there.

In response, McDonald’s longtime supplier Cargill is working with supply chain distribution partner Martin Brower to deliver Cargill products and donations from other system suppliers, even providing Ronald McDonald House® programs with chef-created “recipe books” to make the best use of donations.

Taking it a step further, Cargill’s culinary team partnered with supplier Golden State Foods to transform McDonald’s menu items that might otherwise go to waste into delicious meals for RMHC families. The new dishes, such as orange chicken and fish tacos, are being delivered to RMHC of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana locations.
More: McDonald’s Franchisee Restaurants Provide Meals, Encouragement in Guatemala

Contributing Financial Aid
Lombardy, Italy is one of the hardest hit centers of the coronavirus pandemic. In an effort to inspire even more financial giving across the system, McDonald's Italy and Ronald McDonald House Charities® Italy are each donating €500K totaling €1million toward the construction of a temporary hospital to treat COVID-19 patients in Milan, Lombardy’s most populous city.

The donation will help seed a dedicated fund for the hospital, in collaboration with the Milan Community Foundation  “The period we are living is dramatic; we never thought we would have to face an experience like this, which involves the whole country and the lives of everyone," said Mario Federico, CEO of McDonald's Italy.

"McDonald’s is well-established in the territory through its 600 restaurants and 24,000 employees. That's why we can't not do our part by giving concrete help to those in need of therapy and who every day do their best to ensure it, even at the cost of their own health."

The donation also includes the purchase of a complete unit for resuscitation to upgrade the Intensive Care Unit of the Buzzi Pediatrician Hospital.

In the U.S., residents are bracing for more cases of the virus in the coming weeks. McDonald’s, which is headquartered in Chicago, donated $1 million to the Illinois Covid-19 Response Fund.

“We are always ready to extend our golden arches to our communities and it is an honor to lend a helping hand to our home state,” said Joe Erlinger, President of McDonald’s USA, in a tweet.

The fund, which raised $23 million to start from a coalition of funders including McDonald’s, will support nonprofits helping state residents most impacted by coronavirus.

Helping Protect Workers and Volunteers
Also in Illinois, McDonald’s donated 400,000 KF94 masks to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for use by first responders.

 “As a global company, McDonald’s now has access to a reserve of masks through our partners in China as they begin to recover from the coronavirus,” said Francesca DeBiase, McDonald’s Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain and Sustainability Officer.

Masks are in short supply elsewhere across the U.S., including California where JBI Interiors, one of McDonald’s restaurant décor suppliers, is located. In a shift from upholstering furniture, JBI’s upholstery department lead, Jose Lima, helped source material and produce a sample face mask for mass production.

Within a week, JBI Interiors delivered the first batch of masks to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and now is ramping up production to fulfill requests from two more medical centers, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the Kaiser ICU group in Baldwin Park.
More: How McDonald’s Suppliers and Partners Support Our Customers and Our People